Perhaps the biggest earthquake of the political season already has happened.

The aftershocks of Christine O'Donnell's surprise win in Delaware are still being felt. Election Day in November may just turn out to be one of those aftershocks.

The Washington political establishment, including GOP insiders, appears to be completely befuddled and beside itself that an unknown newcomer with the political sensitivities of Ann Coulter just won the GOP nomination in a very blue state, beating a moderate Republican House member who had served as governor of the state.

There must be some mistake!

But there was no mistake . . . because there was a "little" thing we call an election.

And in this election there was no goof up, no accident that caused O'Donnell to beat the establishment favorite.

Indeed, voters knew clearly who she was, what she stood for, and all of her apparent liabilities.

Despite the fact that opponent Mike Castle outspent her, that the state party backed Castle, and the local media gave him favorable coverage, O'Donnell not only won but also won big — beating Castle handily by more than six percentage points.

This upset has caused much handwringing in Washington.

The Beltway insiders may not like the result, but Delaware Republicans are no country bumpkins.

They are like many Republicans in the New England states, fiscally conservative, a tad liberal on social issues, and sophisticated.

And in a hotly contested primary, they went strongly for the upstart.

Few seemed to grasp the significance of O'Donnell's win. One person who did was Rush Limbaugh.

Limbaugh immediately pounced on Karl Rove and other Republicans for sniping at the GOP's Delaware Senate nominee.

"Why not fight for it?" Limbaugh asked on his show the day after Rove hit O'Donnell hard on Fox News.

"Why not fight for it? Castle's OK as the 51st vote, but this woman isn't?" Limbaugh asked.

"Everyone I know that saw this was just — they were perplexed and said, 'What's going on? Why is he so mad at a Republican?'" Rush complained of Rove's move.

"Where was this anger directed at a Democrat ever?" Rush asked again.

Can you ever remember a Democrat leader urging fellow Democrats not to support Al Franken when he won his Senate seat — despite a blizzard of oddities he provided over his long career?

The media seems intent on smearing O'Donnell. The latest "revelation" — she admitted to a little "witchcraft" as a teenager while appearing on Bill Maher's comedy show more than 10 years ago.

If this was a criteria for public office, almost every teenage girl in America who touched a Ouija board or played tarot cards would be ineligible for office.

Fortunately, many in the heartland saw the double standard, and conservatives like Rush exposed it.

Rush urged his radio audience to back O'Donnell and visit her website to donate to her campaign.

After his call to arms, O'Donnell's site crashed as it was swamped with visitors. O'Donnell's campaign coffers swelled to more $2 million this past week, thanks largely to Rush.

When Rush first gained prominence in the '90s, there was no Fox News, no Web, no nothing, except Rush. Today, there are many more conservative outlets, but as Rush's stance in favor of O'Donnell proves, he remains the most relevant conservative on the national scene today.

The day after O'Donnell's win, Barry Goldwater Jr., the former congressman and son of the conservative legend, visited Newsmax. Barry reminded me that, when his dad won the 1964 Republican primary for president, many Republicans said the same things about him that are being said about O'Donnell.

Barry Goldwater Sr. didn't win that election, but his efforts laid the groundwork for the rise of Ronald Reagan.

Perhaps the biggest earthquake of the political season already has happened.
The aftershocks of Christine O'Donnell's surprise win in Delaware are still being felt. Election Day in November may just turn out to be one of those aftershocks.
The Washington political...